Remains - Better let sleeping dead lie

There are a lot of negative reviews about 'Remains' and, to be honest, I couldn't see why. I'm not going to say that it's a `must see classic.' It's definitely not. It's effectively another zombie film among a seemingly endless stream of similar undead movies.

If you've seen a zombie film before (and with the amount that's about today, you probably have), you'll expect plenty of biting, plenty of headshots and plenty of boarding up buildings. 'Remains' has all that. And not all that much more. Perhaps that's its problem. It's a decent enough film, but offers absolutely nothing you haven't seen a hundred times before in the genre.

'Remains' is most similar to the 2004 'Dawn of the Dead' remake in terms of style and content. A bunch of people barricade themselves in a casino during an undead outbreak (in Las Vegas, I think?). There, they contemplate whether to sit it out, or make a break for it. 'Remains' seems to flit between black comedy and a straight horror film. It never stays in one genre for too long. Perhaps the most amusing thing that 'Remains' brings to the story is that zombies actually fall asleep! I've seen a lot of different undead characteristics before, but I've never seen witnessed a ghoul taking a 'power nap' while standing up!

The cast is pretty generic.  I always think a mark of an average film is the fact that you can't remember the names of any of the characters by the time the credits are rolling.  I can't recall a single name.  There's the 'generic hero guy' and the 'generic douch guy' and so on.  The only recognisable face was a guy I saw in 'Fringe' and I've even forgotten his name - that's how generally famous the actor is.  Plus the 'special' effects are anything but special.  I know the gore and zombie make-up are decent enough, it's when other effects are needed, i.e. cars speeding up and crashing.  In those cases the effects are actually quite laughable.  I don't know whether the 'cheap' look was deliberate for 'comic value' or whether the budget really was that low.

If 'Remains' was released ten or twenty years ago, it would probably have been hailed as `ground-breaking' and a `classic.' However, it's major fault is that it brings nothing new to the genre. If you desperately feel like sitting through yet another zombie movie then you might want to give this a go. But, remember, it's nothing you haven't seen before.

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that